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The England Cricket thread 2019 - The Ashes

Thought best we start the new year with a new thread and it promises to be a bumper year with the World Cup on home soil and the Ashes!

But first, Test match cricket is back!!!!! The England team to face the West Indies in the first Test -

We have 2 spinners which I think is correct, but the crazy thing is the depth of batting - mind-blowing. It does make you question if we really need to fuss over the whole number 3 - yes a solid one would be ideal, but if it doesn't come off one of the all rounders is likely to have a half decent day you'd think.

I watched it on Sky yesterday, and Anderson was sublime, given that he had little to work with - neither the pitch nor the ball was doing much, if anything. At one point he'd bowled 14 overs for 14 runs.

And the Windies don't have a full-time spinner, yet England have opted for two. On the evidence of yesterday it seems that sacrificing Broad for Rashid might not pay off, but it's a five day game so you never know. Ben Stokes made a difference, properly aggressive, and a couple of wickets which pegged the Windies back, then he and Anderson could get stuck in with the new ball, which did a bit more than the original one, and exposed the lack of depth in the hosts' batting, although Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer both looked as though they were capable of a big score. Hetmyer will have to grind out whatever he can with the tail now.

One of the commentators made the point that England's quicks were all rather one-paced, with Anderson and Curran around 80mph, and Stokes up at 83-84. He said that England lack a proper X-factor fast bowler at the moment, and it's hard to deny that he's right. Jofra Archer for the Ashes squad, perhaps?

Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

I watched it on Sky yesterday, and Anderson was sublime, given that he had little to work with - neither the pitch nor the ball was doing much, if anything. At one point he'd bowled 14 overs for 14 runs.

And the Windies don't have a full-time spinner, yet England have opted for two. On the evidence of yesterday it seems that sacrificing Broad for Rashid might not pay off, but it's a five day game so you never know. Ben Stokes made a difference, properly aggressive, and a couple of wickets which pegged the Windies back, then he and Anderson could get stuck in with the new ball, which did a bit more than the original one, and exposed the lack of depth in the hosts' batting, although Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer both looked as though they were capable of a big score. Hetmyer will have to grind out whatever he can with the tail now.

One of the commentators made the point that England's quicks were all rather one-paced, with Anderson and Curran around 80mph, and Stokes up at 83-84. He said that England lack a proper X-factor fast bowler at the moment, and it's hard to deny that he's right. Jofra Archer for the Ashes squad, perhaps?

I think the 2 spinners was a naive selection - it would have made more sense if we were bowling 4th on this pitch. Which we're not.

I highlighted the seamer issue above and fully agree. Need a 90mph+ bowler who can bowl 5 over bursts at high intensity. Runs and economy aren't really an issue with a bowler like that. And you can manage the workload so someone like Archer is possible. Can the lad bat, that seems to be the key criteria for any position nowadays.....

England seem to do this every now and again, thing is they have the tools to do better and hopefully this will focus their minds a bit.
At least itís not the old Atherton days of rolling ones eyes and looking to the heavens for inspiration.
I still think England will be the better team going into the ashes.

England seem to do this every now and again, thing is they have the tools to do better and hopefully this will focus their minds a bit.
At least itís not the old Atherton days of rolling ones eyes and looking to the heavens for inspiration.
I still think England will be the better team going into the ashes.

We are a lot better at home. Just look at India in Australia - very easily done by them and we handled them very well last summer.

Our excellent performance in Sri Lanka had led to a sense of walking this series. Guess not!

We were pointing out we need a real fast bowler, but with Sir jimmy itís not an issue compared to our woeful batting unit.

Relying far too much on our all rounders bailing us out, while we have a serious, serious issue of no decent specialist batsmen apart from Root. 1 decent dedicated batsman in this team....eek!

Quite possibly. We seem to have trialled most of the openers in the counties over the last couple of years. Burns is still relatively fresh (there was a large clamour for him to be selected last year) but as for Jennings...

Quite possibly. We seem to have trialled most of the openers in the counties over the last couple of years. Burns is still relatively fresh (there was a large clamour for him to be selected last year) but as for Jennings...

At least they were both still there at the close.

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Alex Hales and Jason Roy would be better options although they donít seam keen on having the same players playing red and white ball and there is a lot of cricket. I think Burns will be a good choice in the end, does not help when you partner is a walking wicket.

Alex Hales and Jason Roy would be better options although they donít seam keen on having the same players playing red and white ball and there is a lot of cricket. I think Burns will be a good choice in the end, does not help when you partner is a walking wicket.

Test 2 in on, though not sure if that is a good or bad thing if you're an England fan. Burns out to a decent ball (fair enough) but Denly was just SHOCKING - wide long-hop loosener ball and toe'd it. Oh dear. I do agree on Hales or Roy being given a chance.

First thoughts - I have no idea whatís going on. I think limitations of the squad - but I guess the idea is of utilising specialist batsmen. Except Jennings isnít very good. I guess he will open with Burns.

Poor Foakes is one to get chppped - but 3 keepers is too much and I prefer Bairstow at 6 than 3. Expect him to make a 100. Now what are the odds we are 10-3 after 5 overs....

Wood probably has to play - we were desperately shot of a proper fast bowler last Test. Curran is a fine player but these pitches are not for him.

The old adage is what happens if you add two to the score - and now we see, 69-3 and some trouble. It's also a fine balance in Test match about gritting it and also keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Burns got a decent ball, Denly I am not convinced at international level tbh.

Root and Buttler have an old ball now, so if the job of the opening is to wear out the bowlers a bit and the shine, job done.

This is a bit more like it! Mark Wood showing that genuine pace is the answer in most cricketing situations. A fantastic spell of bowling.

And not a minute too soon - this is the last Test, other than what is no more than an exhibition match against Ireland, before we entertain the inmates of HMP Australia.

And we still haven't found a decent top order. Perhaps Ed Smith has lost Alex Hales' phone number...

We've said many times that this team needs someone who can hit 90mph consistently. Really happy for Wood and hope he can keep this up. I am not sure Anderson/Broad could have taken the wickets so cheaply.

As for top order, not sure what to say really....just hope we get to 100-3 and consider that an achievement.

I worry about our ability as a team to actually rack up more than 300 runs let alone 400-450. It is a concern.

ODI time and not the greatest start. Just the 361 to chase in the first with a world record 23 sixes smashed against us. Our quicks were poor and I felt Rashid came into the innings too late and that Roy drop of Gayle was not great.

It will be interesting to see how we go about it actually, I'm not ruling us out just yet....